After years of wondering what it would be like to live abroad, I decided to find out.
At 30 I left my job and home in the USA to live, travel, eat(!), and work in Australia for a year. Now, I’m a 30-something back in the US, working with university students, baking and learning about food, enjoying life with my Brit, and plotting the next adventure.

For as long as I remember, fall has been my favorite time of year. The colors, smells, flavors, and weather make me smile.

Some friends and family gather for a football tailgate

When I was in Australia, one of the the things I missed the most was autumn. Now, I’m missing Australia but LOVING living in Virginia at the most wonderful time of the year.

Over the last two months, I’ve been able to combine two of my fall favorites — attending college games and baking for the tailgates!

First, I found a recipe for Blue Moon Cupcakes on Pinterest and figured beer in a cupcake sounded like football food.

I liked the orange flavored cupcake and marshmallow flavored icing. Maybe I over baked them, but the cupcake was on the dry side — if I made them again I’d use a simply syrup. You’d never know Blue Moon was in them if you hadn’t made them, but it was still a fun recipe to try.

For the next tailgate I made maple bacon cupcakes — something I’ve wanted to make since I first saw a recipe several years ago. There were plenty of recipes to choose from, and I somehow decided on this one. I opted to ice half of the cupcakes with the frosting in the recipe and half with a “sunny side up” egg — an idea I snagged earlier this year from a UK recipe magazine.

Vanilla frosting, butterscotch candy, black sugar

The cupcake itself was okay but the maple frosting was epic. Foodgasmic. And I browned butter for the first time to make both the batter and the frosting.

When I’m not going to football games, I spend my Saturdays eating healthfully, right? Usually yes — unless the Virginia state fair is on.

My friend Evan invited me to join him for a day of eating deep fried treats at the fair. We went in mighty ambitious but had to stop earlier than planned. This was for the best. And no, I did not eat all of the food pictured below

Deep fried Oreo

Deep fried Reese’s Cup

Pumpkin funnel cake — wicked greasy!

It took a solid week for my body to forgive me after the fair! And I’m trying to treat it right so I can occasionally indulge in things like:

— The sweet potato bread french toast I made for my family this weekend.
— These “Everything Fall” cupcakes that will take a couple of days to complete. If you like cupcakes, check out the food blog of that recipe — amazing!
— And pumpkin cinnamon rolls.

When I’m not taking a couple of bites of a sweet treat I’ve made (and making someone else eat the rest!), I’ve been enjoying things like this pumpkin pie smoothie. I use So Delicious coconut milk and yogurt to make it dairy free.

The savory gal in me has enjoyed cooking with acorn and butternut squash for the first time. I’ve had roasted veggies for dinner once or twice a week for a few months now! My fave combo? Sweet potato, butternut squash, and onion — with a little olive oil and spices of course.

Do you have some favorite fall recipes to recommend? I have a long list of things I want to make stored on Evernote and Pinterest but can never have enough suggestions

You are killing me. KILLING ME! Fall is my favorite season at home, too. And, while China has a pretty decent fall (when the smog isn’t trying to kill me), it’s nothing like fall in Western New York. Plus, I miss all the fall foods like apple cider and those little donuts that you HAVE to eat with apple cider… and, now, of course cupcakes. Like I said. You’re just KILLING ME here.

I wish I could say FALL is my FAV season, but the truth is in HOUSTON we really don’t get a FALL… we get a SUMMER and then SHORT WINTER. Yeah things in Houston are strange. Damn though that is what I miss about home some horrible fat food that can kill you…lol!!!

You miss what you can’t have Sometimes in Oz I missed the variety of healthy options I had at home (mostly gluten free stuff) and since being back, I’ve had a challenging time balancing healthy and unhealthy eating O:-)

I’d never tried the fried cookies and candies before — just the funnel cakes! I *so* wanted to try the deep fried Kool-Aid (what in the world?!) but my body refused after a few bites of the other things we bought.

Thanks for the comment on the cupcakes — with the exception of the maple frosting, I think they look better than they tasted

First, I thought the state fair sign said “Deer Fried Reese’s”. I was wondering what that was… but I should have know that everything at the fair is deep fried! I absolutely LOVE making cupcakes so this is awesome! My mom just bought a new cupcakes book for me, and while I’m trying to eat healthy for now, I might just have to make something soon! Btw, the SC State Fair had Fried Ice Cream Bacon Cheeseburgers this year. Did you see any of those? It just keeps getting crazier and crazier!

Fried Ice Cream Bacon Cheeseburgers?! I saw a cheeseburger sandwiched by donuts but nothing like that! I think every year the fair vendors see how they can outdo everyone from the year before. This year it was Kool-Aid!